Love at First Sight
by Fandomgirl1012
Summary: Gaara held his baby nephew and felt a curl of the love that always seemed to be missing from his life reappear. Here was tiny little person, who would love him unconditionally, because that's what families were supposed to do.


_**Birth**_

Gaara winced as he heard Temari unleash a stream of cuss words. His sister's temper had only temporarily improved with pregnancy. He heard her scream again, calling Shikamaru names not meant to be repeated.

After a moment, the screams stopped and the hospital wing was eerily quiet. He and Kankuro sat up as Shikamaru stuck a hand out and waved them into Temari's hospital room. He padded in quietly, and saw his sister sitting up with a baby cradled in her arms, staring at the child with an adoring expression. Shikamaru sat beside her, and wore a small, almost indistinguishable smile.

"We're calling him Shikadai." Temari smiled down at her son.

"Cute little kid." Kankuro wiggled his fingers in the baby's face, prompting the child to start crying. "Wait, crap, don't cry!" Kankuro waggled his fingers again and stuck out his tongue, only causing Shikadai to cry harder. A vein appeared on Temari's forehead. "Crap, no Mari, don't-" He was cut off with a swift fist to the back of his head. "Ouch." He mumbled from the corner of the room he had retreated to.

"Come on Shikadai, settle down." She murmured as she rocked him, but the boy only continued to cry. Gaara watched with uncertainty, until with a sigh and a muttered, 'troublesome', Shikamaru took his son from Temari, walked over to Gaara, and plopped the child in his arms.

Gaara stared at Shikamaru in shock, as did Temari until they noticed the baby had stopped his sobbing. He now stared up at Gaara with lazy eyes. Gaara awkwardly cradled the boy, who merely turned and went to sleep.

"Well, what do you know?" Temari murmured as Shikamaru sighed and Kankuro whined about how it was unfair that Shikadai like Gaara but not him. Gaara merely stared at the tiny face that, for whatever reason, seemed to like him so much, and felt an inkling of warmth for this tiny being who didn't know about his past and seemed to like him merely because he was himself.

 _ **2 months**_

Gaara was bewildered as he opened the door of his guest house in Konoha to Shikamaru standing on his doorstep. "I need a favor…" the man said with a sigh.

One thing led to another and he found himself at the Nara household, enlisted as the babysitter for Shikadai, while Temari and Shikamaru had a much needed night off.

Albeit, Shikamaru had to practically drag Temari away, as she seemed anxious about leaving her son without her. If it weren't for the fact that Shikamaru had told him about how she had taken on the previous matriarch of the Nara clan after she had discovered that she had taken Shikadai for a walk without letting her know, he might've felt insulted.

Instead he merely felt awkward as the baby sucked on a pacifier and stared at him from his spot on the floor. _What exactly was one supposed to DO with a baby?,_ he wondered.

Eventually, he began to work on some paperwork for some joint missions between Suna shinobi and Konoha shinobi. He ignored the gurgling coming from Shikadai, looking up every so often to ensure the child was safe. Gaara, it must be noted, did not spend much time around children.

So when Shikadai started wailing, Gaara was obviously panicked as to why. He attempted to feed him, only to have the baby refuse all food. He tried to change him, only to discover a clean diaper. "What could you possibly want?" He asked the child as he held him aloft, much like one would hold a sack of flour. The child only continued to wail and Gaara sighed. In his irritation, a few grains of sand curled off the floor to weave up to him, and the child stopped crying, transfixed by the sand.

Picking up on the interest, Gaara had strands of stand curl up and weave between his fingers, causing Shikadai to coo and gurgle, his tiny fingers trying to grasp the sand. Gaara sat him on the floor, causing a whine from the child, then had the sand come up around him and begin to swirl and writhe. Finally entertained, Shikadai began to quiet.

Later that night, Shikamaru and Temari almost had a heart attack when they walked into their living room to find Gaara asleep on the couch and a cradle of sand hoisting Shikadai several off the feet, rocking him in his slumber.

 _ **10 months**_

 __Temari was visiting Sunagakure with Shikadai, and Gaara was currently talking with his sister in his office, as they watched Shikadai crawl around the floor. Temari was currently ranting to her brother about the latest stupidity of her husband, when Gaara hushed her and pointed to her son.

Shikadai was using the corner of Gaara's office chair to raise himself to a standing position and with a look of determination that came entirely from his mother, let go and took his first steps. Temari shrieked with joy and threw her arms open as she knelt down.

"That's my boy! Come to me!" She demanded of her son, albeit with a much gentler tone than her normal one. Shikadai took cautious, one almost might call them lazy, steps towards them.

At the last moment however, he turned past his mother and stumbled until he was clinging to Gaara's robes. He looked up at his uncle with an annoyed looking, as though he was asking why he had done that and yet gotten nothing in return.

In response, Gaara knelt, and with much more practice than what he had when he Shikadai had been shoved into his arms after his brother, picked up his nephew. "Good job, Shikadai." He murmured and Shikadai stared at his face then tucked himself into his uncle's shoulder, apparently taking a nap, his Nara laziness reasserting itself now that he had accomplished his task.

Ignoring Temari's cries that it was unfair that her son hadn't come to her, Gaara smiled, almost imperceptibly at his nephew.

 _ **2 years old**_

 __As Gaara opened the door to his sister's home, he felt a small body crash against his legs, and looked down to see Shikadai look up at him with impatience. "Up, Uncle Gaara, up!' he demanded in a tone he inherited from his mother.

With a faint smile, Gaara did something better. He felt the sand respond to his silent direction and lift Shikadai into the air so that he was flying on a carpet of sand now Gaara's height. He nodded and laid down on it, content to be floated around by his uncle.

Gaara stepped into the kitchen and had to dodge the thrown ladle as Temari yelled at him for letting Shikadai float around, and didn't he know how much it scared her when she did that, and why could he carry his nephew like normal person.

Watching his mother yell at arguably his favorite person, Shikadai gave a scowl and said that dreaded word, "Troublesome." the two-year old pouted, which set off another round of yelling, coupled with the cursing of his father's name and other choice words. Gaara merely sighed as his sister worked herself into a frenzy and then felt Shikadai bump into his arm and he looked at his nephew, who eyed his uncle with a lazy look and the curled his arms around his neck.

"Love you, Uncle Gaara." He murmured and Gaara turned to hold his nephew properly, the sand dropping away as he held his nephew.

"Love you too, Shikadai." He said, a faint smile on his face.


End file.
